The Black Wolf Story Structure Model

Posted on April 18, 2025April 22, 2025 by Judy L Mohr

I've been talking about story structure for years (at least I have with my in-person groups). I've spent years studying the topic, devouring everything that I could find about it. And in all my years of studying story structure, I've noticed something interesting.

Regular consumers of story, either written or film, learn to recognize the patterns that come with the rise and fall of action. They develop this innate instinct about when things should happen. If something is off with the pacing of a story, the readers know. They can feel it. They may not be able to explain why the pacing is off, but they still know that it's off.

Story structure models help to provide reasoning and some mathematics to what the readers know by instinct. This is why story structure is more important than what some writers give it credit for.

However, in all my years of studying story structure, I've also noticed that emphasis is often given to the protagonist of the story, focusing on their actions and decisions. The antagonist is often treated as an afterthought or ignored completely. As such, the dynamic interplay between the protagonist and the antagonist is not leveraged to its full potential.

When I noticed this pattern, I started to develop my own story structure model that leans into the interplay between the protagonist and the antagonist. As I write this blog post, I'm currently writing a full book about the topic, defining the antagonist and looking at story structure in detail, incorporating the antagonist into the model. That book is slated for publication come February 2026, but it's time to start sharing with the world the base structure that I'm calling the Black Wolf Story Structure model.

The Black Wolf Story Structure model is an amalgamation of a lot of different models, but adds the antagonistic beats that are commonly missed or misunderstood. I employ a four-act structure.

How to Write Realistic Dialogue with non-native English Speakers

Posted on November 15, 2024September 30, 2024 by Judy L Mohr

Writing takes a community, sharing ideas and supporting one another. So, when we get approached with an article that shares hard-earned knowledge, we couldn't be happier to pass that information.

When Meredith Rankin reached out to me with an article about how to write dialogue with those who are still learning how to speak English, I was over the moon. While I am surrounded by those whose first language wasn't English (my own husband being one of them), it never occured to me how to treat this in the written form. But Meredith has some solid advice for writers.

Over to you, Meredith.

Fiction often treats second language fluency as an all or nothing issue. Either the characters are completely fluent in the second language, or they’re completely ignorant of the language. That’s unrealistic. In my latest manuscript, I tried to convey the complexities of language learning.

Realistically, becoming totally fluent in another language takes years for most adults. Everyone learns at different speeds and the learning process is affected by myriad factors, including some outside the learner’s control. When I volunteer-taught English as a foreign language (EFL), I had students who were homebound because they had poor health or caring for loved ones; I had other students who were immersed daily in the language. Their progression differed accordingly.

Understanding the Nature of the Antagonist

Posted on October 18, 2024October 14, 2024 by Judy L Mohr

When we start the conversation about the protagonist and the antagonist, some writers instantly jump to the conclusion that we are referring to a good-guy-vs-bad-guy story.

One might ask, "What if I don't have a villain in my story?"

My response: "Not all stories have villains. But all stories have characters striving towards a goal of some sort… and there is always something getting in the way."

I dove deeper into this idea in a previous post, highlighting that the role of the antagonist in a story is to get in the way of the protagonist achieving those goals, whatever those goals happen to be. But your protagonist is not necessarily the good guy of the story. And the antagonist is not necessarily another character. The good-guy-vs-bad-guy concept is one of many protagonist/antagonist pairings that might exist.

It's time to take a dive into the different types of antagonists found in stories. And not all of them are characters. We'll be looking at the classic good-guy-vs-bad-guy trope, but we're also going to dive into man-vs-nature and man-vs-self.

The Role of the Antagonist

Posted on June 14, 2024April 26, 2024 by Judy L Mohr

When we start the conversation about the protagonist and the antagonist, some writers will instantly jump to the conclusion that we are referring to a "good guy vs bad guy" story.

One might ask, "What if I don't have a villain in my story?"

My response: "Not all stories have villains. But all stories have characters striving towards a goal of some sort… and there is always something getting in the way."

It is that understanding of a character's goal, and consequently what is getting in the way, that helps us to understand the protagonist and antagonist for our story.

In today's post, I want to examine what really makes the protagonist the protagonist… and what the role of the antagonist is.

Set Learning Goals

Posted on May 17, 2024May 11, 2024 by Judy L Mohr

There is a saying: You're only as good as the last book you published.

The newer writer might look at that statement and suddenly panic about not yet having a publication. Let me alleviate those fears right now. It's okay if you are still working on your first publication.

The saying above is just a reminder to us writers that we have to continually evolve. Just because you have published a book doesn't mean that you can stop learning. With every book that we write, our skills should be improving.

While some writers are able to take the same formula from one book into the next, for most readers, the same-old book quickly becomes boring. So, we writers need to adapt as a consequence.

The industry is constantly changing. New technologies are becoming available to us. As such, we have to be prepared to change too… or get swallowed up by the evolution of the industry and be left for dust.

So, how is a writer meant to survive when you are only as good as your last book?

Well, for every book that I write, and with every stage of the production process, I aim to learn something new to help me along my journey.

In today's post, I want to talk about setting learning goals for our projects.

While waiting for feedback, LEAVE YOUR MANUSCRIPT ALONE!

Posted on April 12, 2024April 8, 2024 by Judy L Mohr

The work of a writer is never really done. We are constantly tinkering with that manuscript, because there is always something that could be changed to make it better. But eventually, there comes a point when we have to put that manuscript into the metaphorical drawer and leave it alone.

When that manuscript is in the hands of another person, that's the perfect time to ignore that manuscript. Resist the urge to fix that typo or change that sentence. Just forget about it. Because if you keep tinkering, then the comments that come back might no longer be valid.

But some writers believe they have the perfect solution for this: Just send the editor the latest version. Never might that the editor is now screaming into the void, because everything that they had done up until that point has been made redundant and they have to start over again. But, at least they have the right version now, right?

Excuse me while I sit here with the phone at arm's length as my editing buddies go into a complete meltdown over the situation.

And the fallout is never pretty.

18 Tricks for Getting Past Writer’s Block

Posted on January 19, 2024January 5, 2024 by Judy L Mohr

Writer's block is a real thing, and there could be any number of reasons for why it's happening. You could be out of practice with the flow of writing. Your editing brain could be constantly clicking in and getting in the way of your writing brain. You could be fighting with characters who want to run away with the story, and you could be getting too many ideas from outside sources, distracting you with the new shiny! Or it could be something simple as you're tired and not thinking straight.

Whatever the reason, to deny that writer's block exists is a fool's exercise. However, the ways to get past it count in the hundreds of thousands.

In today's post, I want to just throw some ideas out there on how you could get those creative juices flowing again. This list is far from exhaustive, but the more tools a writer has in their toolbox, the better the chances you have to actually solve the issue that you're having.

Hanging a lantern on it is NOT cheating

Posted on August 18, 2023June 30, 2023 by Judy L Mohr

For those who don't know, the term hanging a lantern on it refers to when writers deliberately highlight something that is not what readers expect, but it is done in such a way that it's a fleeting moment, asking the reader to accept things the way the writer is presenting it. It's an important tool for any fiction writing that deviates from "normal" society.

But there are some writers who believe that hanging a lantern on it is cheating, but it's not. It's asking your reader to trust you and accept the world that you are presenting, asking them to put aside their preconceived ideas and beliefs long enough to enjoy the ride.

In today's post, I want to explore why hanging a lantern on it is an important device to have in your toolbox and how it can actually save a story from the fires of reader criticism.

Too many short sentences make a scene feel stilted

Posted on May 12, 2023January 13, 2025 by Judy L Mohr

When I was still new to writing, someone told me that to write a good action sequence you had to use a lot of short sentences. The idea was that short sentences were straight to the point and didn't give you a chance to add fluffy stuff. When I was told this advice, I was told that the short sentences would speed things up. Now that I'm more experienced, I know that this was bad advice and fundamentally not true.

Short sentences can be a great device to add emphasis, which is why this misconception exists. When used wisely, the short sentence can create urgency within your storytelling. However, too many short sentences in quick succession will create a stilted feeling in the narrative that is disjointed and slow to read. It can even make things confusing.

In today's post, we're going to discuss the true nature of using short sentences in action sequences.

5 ways to drive your editor batty

Posted on March 17, 2023September 3, 2023 by Judy L Mohr

Every editor has a few pet peeves, things that irritate them when they see them. But we editors suffer in silence, correcting those issues and moving on to the next page of the manuscript. But there are editors like me who happily turn those pet peeves into blog posts, showing the world how irritating they can be.

Today's post dives into some of the things that writers do that can drive an editor to the coo-coo train.

(Now, watch, some of my writing buddies will turn this into a challenge to see if they can work all of these things into their next writing piece that they share with me.)

Category Archives: Writing and Editing